Trust broken - Tesla doesn't honor what it says

[voip-ninja]

Tesla definitely needs to hone down their inconsistencies with communication, policies, practices...from Elon down to the delivery specialists. When Elon posted about the 5K refund...imo Tesla as a company didn’t have to refund people 5K. I was hoping to get it...but wouldn’t have caused a ruckus if I didn’t. What other company would give me a refund that I legally signed and agreed to pay? But as a good faith jester they did.

Referral program clearly states the code must be used at time of order. If it’s not used...the inconsistencies of what people are being told and retroactively applied is the problem. If Tesla was consistent and everyone said sorry it needs to be done at the time of order, the OP wouldn’t be in this situation. IMO...if I give my code to anyone, I tell them to make sure they use it when placing the order...or else don’t expect them to add it later...no matter what any specialist at tesla says.

Good faith jester is my new favorite misnomer.

 

[brkaus]

My sales rep added it for me. I didn't have a code so he found one for me.Nice guy.

He probably used his friends, the one giving him gift cards or dinners. In fact, he probably used that for other orders instead of the provided referral code too!

Source: Someone I know that used to give gift cards, dinners, cash to the sales folks.

 

[run-the-joules]

Good faith jester is my new favorite misnomer.

I mean, they minus whale bite the bulltit.

 

[MexiCanuck]

I understand the dismay of the OP. I don't agree with the characterization, "Trust broken - Tesla doesn't honor what it says".

I never have faith in what a semi-anonymous, likely underpaid, possibly recently hired, person in precarious work tells me. I don't expect that they will be a stalwart representative of a company who has been delegated authority to make commitments on behalf of the company, even in consultation with other likely underpaid, possibly recently hired, person in precarious work.

This is not a criticism of Tesla. It is an observation that as western corporations have come to view employees as no more valuable than Ikea desks or chairs, those employees have reciprocated and consumers have to change our belief systems.

I don't know if the wording on the Tesla US website is different, but on the Canadian website the wording is unambiguous.

"Orders must be placed through an active referral link in order to qualify for referral benefits." (Bolding added.)

Tesla made the rule clear and Telsa honoured what it said.

Someone in precarious employment with no authority to override the official statement said something different. The trust that was broken with that individual.

(If it were me, I would reflect that I also broke the trust that I have with myself to not trust people who don't have authority.)

 

[afadeev]

The referral system is a sh*t show. I had a similar experience. [...] I then got 5,000 miles instead of the expected 1,000 miles because Tesla again messed up and based the referral on DELIVERY date, not ORDER date like their terms stated. Worked out in my favor.

Referrals aren't worth the hassle. I've had two buyers use my referral code when purchasing, after doing long in-depth drive/demos of my car. So far: nothing. I haven't gotten a thing. And most likely won't. It's just not worth beating my head on their wall.

How much does 1000 miles of supercharging cost Tesla? Penny wise and pound foolish.

Just to put things in perspective: 1000 miles at ~0.3 kWh / mile == ~ 300 kWh worth of electricity.
Referral Program

Where I live, 1 kWh is $0.14 at home, with delivery.
At a nearby Tesla Supercharger, the rate is almost double what I pay at home: $0.24 per kWh.
Elon Musk's Tesla has just bumped up its supercharger prices, here is how much your state now charges

So the 1000 miles of supercharging referral credit is worth $0.24 * 300 == ~$72.
In really, it is actually $42, if I want to skip the inconvenience of driving to a Tesla supercharger, and just charge at home.

In other words, it's hardly worth the bother.
To me.

I never have faith in what a semi-anonymous, likely underpaid, possibly recently hired, person in precarious work tells me. I don't expect that they will be a stalwart representative of a company who has been delegated authority to make commitments on behalf of the company, even in consultation with other likely underpaid, possibly recently hired, person in precarious work. [...]Someone in precarious employment with no authority to override the official statement said something different. The trust that was broken with that individual.

In any reputable company, a written commitment made by an employee of that company is treated with maximum respect, and carries legal weight.
If an employee makes a false promise, he/she would get disciplined, but that person's manager (usually) will go to an extreme length to fulfill the commitment made on behalf of the company. The motivation is simple - to uphold company's good name, reputation, and standing.

That generally holds true for normal, reputable companies, large an small. Public and private.

Unfortunately, that statement does not hold true for Tesla.

Great car, sh*t-show company. Top to bottom.

YMMV,
a

P.S.: I've "sold" multiple EVs, including Tesla's, to co-workers and friends. Shared the referral code at least half-dozen times, but never bothered to demand confirmation that they used my code. Zero credits posted to my Tesla account as of today, which doesn't bother me one bit.
P.P.S.: To OP - yes, you got screwed, but only for $42-72 (depending on how you count). No biggie. Just wait till you bring the car in for service!

 

[amans232]

i agree with someone who posted earlier...why the hell would they want to be so stingy???

 

[BrandonLive]

There is quite a bit of difference between "not honouring" something that is part of their policy, and this, which I think amounts to one rep that probably misspoke AGAINST what is clearly their policy and making a big deal of it.

When I ordered I wasn't aware of the referral (which are kind of available to anyone ordering given how many people post them for anyone to use), I'd configured but not put in my deposit when I learned of it here. I picked some random guy in Vancouver, as a fellow Canadian, and reconfigured and deposited with his code. Unfortunately it didn't go though, seems common, but it was the advisor that picked that up, and told me of my options - that there's no way for them to add the code after order on there end, but that I could refund my deposit and get the referral if I wanted. Wasn't worth the effort given I expect to charge from home and the amount I'd use in six months before expiry would amount to much less than the miles.

Sometimes it seems some people get so wrapped up around small issues with this process and then crap on Tesla for it. While certainly one hopes they will improve their customer service, I remember the crappy interest and attitudes I got from Nissan, Honda and Kia when I was looking at their EV offerings, at least Tesla seems to want to sell their EVs!

I used a friend’s referral link when I ordered my car last year, and somehow it didn’t get applied (they said something about having multiple browser tabs open on Tesla.com can mess it up, but I also wondered if it was some login state thing - who knows). Anyway, after a bit of insistence I was able to get it added, so they’re definitely able to do that if they want to.

 

[M109Rider]

This is one of the main reasons I haven't taken the plunge yet. I want a Model 3 soooo bad, but statements like this turn me off.

I have a hard time believing this guy type of feedback is the main reason you’re not buying. ...

If you listen to drama and complainers with a healthy dose of entitlement, without any consideration around why Tesla has these issues, you are only fooling yourself and missing out.
Do your research on the car, understand a new car manufacturer growing at light speed will have these types of challenges and decode.

In the end.
If you have an intolerant, and entitled tendency as many here have, you’ll still love the car and as an added bonus, you can join many others and feed these characteristics all day long on this forum.
Win - Win !

 

[jamessmooth007]

I have a hard time believing this guy type of feedback is the main reason you’re not buying. ...

ONE of the reasons.
I'm not sure I understand your post. It sounds like you're saying @iaflyer is entitled because they expect a certain level of service. One of the reasons I joined this forum is to hear not only the good, but the bad about Tesla to decide if I want to purchase. After reading many, many stories on this forum and talking to owners, it's pretty clear Tesla has its issues in the service arena. To not take that into consideration before making such a large purchase, to me, is foolish.

 

[Joshan]

While they do have issues (as does everyone), they get WAY overblown on the internet as do most things. People don't come to the internet to state how awesome something was and how greateful they are usually.

Not to mention the obvious FUD Tesla faces on a daily basis from the fossil fuel industry. It makes the attacks on Biden seem tame.

 

[jamessmooth007]

People don't come to the internet to state how awesome something was and how greateful they are usually.

People literally come on this forum just to talk about how much they love their Tesla. I don't think its fair to dismiss the folks who have legit gripes about the company just because their experience may have been negative.

 

[Glamisduner]

I ordered mine using a friend's referral code and he never got his wall connector. I even called Tesla first to ensure I didn't need to cancel my order and only use his referral to change to a P3D.

A month or so after reviewing the car and allot of back and forth they told me it didn't count and I should have cancelled and reordered. Friend seemed to care less than I did but IMO it was just plain wrong and I was clearly lied to.

Most people getting free cars have YouTube channels, but this was simply a real referral where I was on the fence about upgrading, and even considering getting something else, and he let me check his car out in person.

Shame on Tesla for lying!

I even sent them a screenshot of their website clearly during the wall connector for referring someone who ordered a P3.. Still denied!

 

[Joshan]

People literally come on this forum just to talk about how much they love their Tesla. I don't think its fair to dismiss the folks who have legit gripes about the company just because their experience may have been negative.

I never dismissed his claim, my first sentence was that they do have issues... People literally come to this forum to talk shiz also, whats your point?

 

[jamessmooth007]

I never dismissed his claim, my first sentence was that they do have issues... People literally come to this forum to talk shiz also, whats your point?

You: People don't come on the internet to talk about how grateful they are usually.
Me: Lots of people come on here to talk about how they love their Teslas.
You: People come on here to talk trash too whats your point?
Me: /shoulder shrug emoji.

 

[M109Rider]

ONE of the reasons.
I'm not sure I understand your post. It sounds like you're saying @iaflyer is entitled because they expect a certain level of service. One of the reasons I joined this forum is to hear not only the good, but the bad about Tesla to decide if I want to purchase. After reading many, many stories on this forum and talking to owners, it's pretty clear Tesla has its issues in the service arena. To not take that into consideration before making such a large purchase, to me, is foolish.

You didn’t understand my post. I think we agree.
I did say do your research and decide/(decode spell check much). ..
I also suggested caution when listening to the same entitled crowd, that just need their whining fix.

 

[M109Rider]

People literally come on this forum just to talk about how much they love their Tesla. I don't think its fair to dismiss the folks who have legit gripes about the company just because their experience may have been negative.

Legit concerns are good.

Folks complaining because Tesla isn’t fast enough with more free software that wasn’t promised, or other entitled posts are the issue.

 

[Chasingmars]

Honestly I think the whole "buyer gets something too" is what breaks the referral program. It means people buying who know about it will dig up anyone's code to try and get something free, those that don't find out about it until after the fact will regret that they didn't, and generally it generates a lot of gaming the system... over what? 1500 km @ 170W/km that's about 250kW-hrs or at my utility rate priced about C$25 of electricity. There's psychology at work here, people don't get worked up over losing $25 ... they get worked up because other people got a free shiny and they didn't get one! (and yes, I get it makes more of an impact with the older more valuable rewards - I'm not addressing those cases really here, other than if the program was less abused then they could afford better referrer side rewards).

I think it would be much better if Tesla just gave every new buyer a free 1500km supercharging credit just as a loss leader to get people to try it out (there's marketing value when combatting the idea of range anxiety to "your first road trip is on us!"), and left the "bonus" miles as a benefit to the referrer only, nothing to the referee, then perhaps the volume of referrals would be less "grabbed a code off youtube" and more "this guy really helped me decide by letting me try his car" - which i think would be more the aim. Then people will order with a referral code because they are actually grateful to the referrer, not because they want to get a free shiny.